Two To One
by E. Griffin
Summary: The Scarecrow; Jonathan Crane, becomes obsessed with inducing fear in one of his students, unawares that something horrifying already haunts her.
1. Chapter One

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TWO TO ONE: REVISED

By: E.R.M. Griffin

****

_Author's Note: _Yes, this is a revisal of the original Scarecrow story "Two To One". I wrote that when I was a good deal younger, and looking back saw the utter Mary Sue Elena was, and felt the whole bloody thing was painfully out of character. Here is the newer version, with many edits, the way it should have been. The story takes place while Crane is still a teacher at Gotham University, and goes on from there. Enjoy.

* * *

**  
CHAPTER 1 **

Nobody moved.

Half the class seemed simply stunned into total silence. The other regarded the spectacle with a mixture of fear and disgust. Mostly fear.

Fear of the rather large arachnid, making its path slowly over the bare desk. It wasn't a tarantula, but to the untrained eye, it was whatever kind of spider the imagination wanted it to be.

If the students believed it to be a venomous killer, it made things all the more interesting.

"Psychologically speaking, fear is the most powerful of human emotions."

The Professor's voice proved distracting to only a choice few students, who tore their eyes away from the spider to look at their teacher. Those who did, didn't dare disagree with him. Faulty thinking or not.

"Even if the mind were to conceive the most terrifying of images, you could not turn away. That is fear, you know. It intensifies concentration. It draws and demands your full attention, and you _cannot_ run away, no matter how much you try!" The man paused, only to remove his spectacles. For a moment, he remained silent as he cleaned them, then replaced them over his tired blue eyes. "It is the adrenaline rush fear gives up…it can be almost addictive to some, like a drug."

"Kind of like what a daredevil would be driven by?" A voice piped up from the back of the class, and the Professor turned to look up at the young man.

"Yes, in a way…"

"But Professor Crane, if fear is such a horrible thing, how can it inspire all it does?" The man continued, pausing only to brush a stray strand of blonde hair out of his eyes.

_Pathetic…_ Crane growled inwardly, annoyed by the interruption. _Idiot jock._

"This is a lesson in fear Mr. Bradley, not a question of morals!" Crane waved any following questions away with a brush of his thin hand.

_Pointless.  
  
_

* * *

She wasn't beautiful. Not even pretty, she had long ago accepted. Her face was too plain, her eyes too darkened by lack of sleep. Her bland black hair, which she wished could shine with the same lovely gloss she saw in every other girl, had a tendency to frizz. Her eyes, weak and strained; a side-effect of hours behind a computer or a book, were hidden behind thin-rimmed glasses. Her skin was too pale, and her body too average. Not exactly large, but then not slim or willowy. Simply painfully _average._

Which was probably why at that moment, she wished more than anything that she could be somewhere else. She wanted to be back home, up in her room. Lost in a book, or still asleep under warm covers. Not standing in front of a closed door in Gotham University.

Psychology 1A 

It wasn't enough she felt so damned insecure, but she had woken up late on her first day of class. Now she stood there, twenty minutes into whatever was going on inside.

_I want to go home…_ Her inner mind whined incessantly. She was badly tempted to listen, before reminding herself that she was almost twenty-one, and not an immature teenager anymore.

_Your with the big boys and girls now Elena, grow up…_She reminded herself, her hand touching the doorknob. _Christ, I can't even come in at the beginning of the year, has to be half-way through, and I'm late!_

Her hand moved away from the doorknob, forming a weak fist. Without another thought, Elena knocked gently on the door. Inside, she heard the voice of who she had assumed to be the Professor fall slightly, drawn by the knock. A moment later, the door opened.

"Yes?"

Elena blinked, actually having to turn her eyes a good deal upward to look the man in the face. He was rather tall and skinny, an almost caricature-like figure in the doorway. His hand remained on the doorknob, his fingers long and delicate.

"Can I help you?" He spoke again, this time with some irritation mixed into his cynical voice.

"Oh…yeah, sorry. I'm…" She handed him the small slip of yellow paper without another word, which he took with a raised eyebrow. After a moment of perusing it, he sighed and looked back at her. "Your twenty minutes late Ms…." He trailed off, not having bothered to look at the name of his new student on the slip.

"Elena Sutherland!" She quickly replied.

"Sutherland," he repeated after her, the look on his face so unimpressed that Elena looked away, clearing her throat uncomfortably.

"Normally, I would not admit you into my class when it has already begun, but seeing as it is your first day here…" he trailed off with a bit of distaste.

"Yeah, I got lost…" she replied lamely, wishing she could have thought of a better excuse then that. In truth, not only had she woken up late, but she had gotten lost looking for the classroom as well. The University _was_ rather large.

_What a perfect first impression. I'm such a loser…_She winced inwardly.

After tucking the yellow slip into a pocket of his light brown suit, the Professor extended his hand, shaking hers with a cold politeness.

"I'm Professor Crane, I'll be your Psychology professor for the duration of the semester. I suggest you come to my class early tomorrow!"

Elena felt her face flush with embarrassment. "I will…sorry."

He moved aside then, letting her enter the classroom. The second she walked in, she felt an old feeling crawl down her throat, settling slowly in her stomach. The forty-so pairs of eyes stared down at her, strangers examining her with critical expressions.

Forget them, they are unimportant… 

Her eyes sank down to the ground shyly. She only dimly heard Professor Crane shut the classroom door, acknowledging him only when he walked past her to stand at one side of his desk. When she glanced over to him, something caught her attention. A brief, slow movement near his hand. An inky blackness moving over the desk.

She couldn't stop the slow intake of breath.

_It is only a mere arachnid._

She felt the fear that may have been building up inside her ebb away almost instantly, filling her instead with a sort of apathy for the ugly little creature. When her eyes swept up back to the Professor, she saw he was regarding her with mild interest. A smirk twitched at one corner of his lip.

"Now Ms. Sutherland, since you are only joining us now, I shall explain what we have been doing. This month we are studying the effects of fears and phobias…"

How very fitting… 

"…which brings us to this little thing here!" his voice drew her back, and she blinked, rather confused.

"The…spider?" She coughed uncomfortably, trying not to look as though she hadn't heard half of what he had just said. She had a tendency to get easily distracted.

"Yes Ms. Sutherland…the spider. Arachnids tend to be spiders!" Crane replied, slightly annoyed at the blank expression on her face. "Can you name the phobia associated with them?"

Elena blinked, glancing between the professor and the spider.

A young female student sitting nearest to them raised her hand eagerly, waving a bit to get Crane's attention. The professor glanced at her with a bored expression.

"Is your name Ms. Sutherland?" He asked the red-headed girl, who flushed and lowered her hand. He turned back to Elena. "Well?"

_Arachnophobia, you simpleton._

"Arachnophobia!" Elena replied, trying to sound as confident as possible. She offered a weak smile when Crane nodded his approval, and motioned for her to take a seat amongst her new peers.

* * *

_  
Author's Note: _Alright, I'll point out now that I've only ever seen the Scarecrow in the animated series, and only read two or three Scarecrow comics. So if I make any mistakes history-wise on the Scarecrow/Crane, forgive me. I don't have all the facts, but I'll try my best.


	2. Chapter Two

**Two To One**

**By:** E.R.M. Griffin

****

**CHAPTER 2**

* * *

Professor Crane remained in the empty classroom long after the last student had left. His hands moved almost systematically, gathering stray papers about the individual tables and piling them all on his desk. He preferred the students to leave their assignments sitting on their desks, being almost repugnant of them lining up in front of him. He supposed it was an after-effect of his youth. He had always been somewhat anti-social.

The spider he had presented during the lesson now sat idly in its little plastic cage, frozen still in a corner. It stared out to the near-empty classroom almost hypnotically. After a moment, Crane walked over to it and tapped the small tank lightly.

"Comfortable in there, you hairy little monstrosity?" He asked it, though his voice retained a good natured quality. "You served your purpose rather well today."

His thoughts turned back to the lesson, snippets of it coming to him in no particular order. The lecture, the shocked look on the faces of some of the freshmen, the little debate with Jack Stoker regarding his morals. Then the new student. He found he couldn't remember her name. She had been out the door first if he remembered correctly.

_In last, out first. How promising_. He grimaced inwardly. _No potential to be anything more than another mindless drone amongst these others._

It sickened him, to be utterly honest. His students, his fellow 'teachers'. His so-called _peers_. None of them displayed any qualities past those base human traits. _Cowardice, prejudice…_ Sometimes he hated having become a teacher. It reminded him too much of his own school days. Those he would much rather have forgotten.

_They still talk about me. Not to my face this time, naturally. But they still do all the same. Nothing ever changes._

He felt a familiar rage well up in him as flashes of the past made their way into his mind. High school, even college. He had assumed things would get better in college, but how could he expect maturity out of those who had abused him all his life.

Crane leaned forward, his face inches from the spider's own. "But I suppose _some_ things have changed, haven't they?" He smiled.

It was a cold smile. Cruel.

* * *

_What are you thinking?_

She winced, rubbing her temple gently. Staring out the window, she almost reached for the bottle of codeine beside her.

"Nothing, I guess…" she trailed off, not really sure what it was she was thinking about.

_You are thinking about yourself again. As a whole self. You._

"Yeah." She replied, defeated. There was never any point in lying. Not to herself. Not to _it._

The moon was out, a half-slit in the black sky above. There were no stars in the sky above Gotham, making the inky blackness above all the more intense. Somewhere outside, she heard laughter, then moments later watched a group of teenagers walk by, heading to some place or another.

_You wish to be with them?_

She thought a moment, not really sure. "No."

There was silence then, from inside.

From down below, the sounds of her parents moving about. Her mother was cooking dinner. Smelled like mashed potatoes and some sort of meat. Chicken, probably. Average. Her father was most likely watching television, or already sitting at the table.

Elena slept little that night.

* * *

The first thing that anyone would have noticed would have been the screaming. It was mournful, almost tortured. No longer strong enough to be keening, but still disturbing. There was also more then one. A cacophony of shrieks, fearful and strained. Exhausted.

He paid them no mind. His concentration was too drawn to the objects spread out before him. Test tubes and beakers bubbled and steamed ominously on the crude wooden table. The basement-room shone with an eerie green light. The mist rising from the table looked almost radioactive.

Off to the side, a female voice begged. _"Don't touch me…please…. Please, I don't want to, please stop it!"_ Her cry continued on, eventually evaporating into a strangled moan of despair.

He paid her no mind, hardly even aware she was there.

Her companions, lying nearby in crumpled heaps, certainly didn't move to lend a hand. Some were far too worst for the wear then she. Nobody would help. There was nobody there but him anyway. The house was otherwise empty, Looming large and lonely on the hill.

_"Please...please....let me go..."_

The moment of clarity caught his attention, and he turned his head. His blue eyes regarded her with a mixture of hatred and satisfaction. They traced the path of her chestnut hair, matted unevenly around her sweat-stained face. Her wild eyes, darting between him and her imaginary assailants.

"Sherri?"

His voice produced only a trace of a reaction. A brief flittering of recognition in her dead eyes. A second later, they retreated back to their feral stare. Looking this way and that.

He turned back to his work, his brief interest gone.

The screams continued, uninterrupted.

* * *

Gotham's morning news was scarcely ever good. That day seemed to be no exception. The media seemed ever intent on starting ever citizen's day on a bad note.

_"Another young woman was reported missing by her friends after failing to return home from work nearly three nights ago. Sherri Squires, aged…"_

The newscaster, a pretty blonde thing in a rather revealing white blouse went on to explain how the newest victim's relations and friends were all _so_ very worried for her safety. _So_ afraid she had been kidnapped by some unknown fiend in the night.

Elena turned the tv off with only a hint of disgust on her face. She was so tired of it all. There was nothing ever positive in the morning news.

"Good news never sells!" Her father had once told her.

_Interesting, is it not? _She winced, swallowing two codeine pills with her orange juice. _Humanity is ever so concerned and appalled with such matters. And yet they crave more. As the Romans with their gladiators and their lion spectacles. Truly, nothing ever changes._

The pain faded slowly.

Packing up her books and lunch, Elena made sure to leave the house early that morning. Gotham University was still somewhat deserted, the majority of the students usually never arriving until at least ten minutes before the start of most lessons.

Walking the lone hallways, she passed random people. A few scattered students, mostly teachers. A janitor washing an odd looking spill near the stairs.

Finding the classroom again proved less difficult the second time around. She arrived almost twenty five minutes before class was scheduled to begin. Elena took the time to settle herself in the desk she chosen the previous day. It was at the front, but closest to the door. After she had unloaded her books and assignment, she took the time to look through the rest of her timetable.

As she read over the names of the classes, and the teachers she barely knew, she wondered why it was she was here.

Elena had long ago given up the idea that it had anything to do with personal goals or ambitions, so much as personal problems…

The flashback was quick and strong, pulling her into the past as she sat there, staring into space.

_"LET ME GO!" She was screaming, tears pouring down her face as the man dragged her through the alley._

_He hadn't, of course. What kind of a rapist would he have been then? What kind of murderer…_

_A horrible pain._

"Ms. Sutherland?"

_A burning, blinding pain._

"Ms. Sutherland?"

_Eventually, numbing into nothingness._

"I truly hope you will not be displaying this sort of attention throughout my class!"

She was snapped out of it suddenly, the memory fading and her immediate surroundings melting slowly into view. The classroom, warm and safe. No longer empty. Her Professor stared down at her, a highly annoyed expression on his sharp features.

She blinked up at him, only to feel her face flush seconds later. She tore her brown eyes away, staring down at her desk.

"I'm sorry Professor, I was just…"

"-Daydreaming?" He sighed, waving her excuse away. "Never mind Ms. Sutherland. At least tell me you managed to complete your assignment last night." He reached out his hand expectantly. "Well?"

"Oh…yeah…" she flipped through some pages in her folder before finding the necessary work and handing it to him.

Her first assignment, a study of what she considered closest to her own phobia.

"Sociophobia?"

Professor Crane raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised. He looked at her skeptically, not really believing that much. She didn't exhibit the usual signs of someone sociophobic. After all, he would have known best of all.

"Sort of, I guess…" she coughed uncomfortably, not liking the scrutinizing expression on his face. "It was the best thing I could think of."

"You hardly strike me as someone with a deep fear of other people…" he trailed off, his expression remaining the same.

_Why you fear at all, is beyond me…_ Elena winced, "Well, I…"

The classroom's silence was suddenly broken as the first of the students began trickling in. Without another word, Professor turned away and walked over to his desk, busying himself by arranging the marked assignments on his desk.

* * *

_Author's Note: _Comic fans will recognize Sherri Squires, a girl who was partially responsible for some of Crane's early trauma. As for "the voice in Elena's voice", it shall be revealed soon…


	3. Chapter Three

**Two To One**

**By:** E.R.M. Griffin

****

**CHAPTER 3**

* * *

"Don't you comb your hair?"

Elena winced, but kept her gaze fixed on her notebook. There was a light titter of laughter somewhere behind her. Some things, it would seem, could never change.

_There's nothing wrong with my hair…_She sighed to herself, shutting her eyes tightly for a few seconds. _It's just kinda…fuzzy today_.

"Ms. Mercy, why do I have the strongest intuition that your dim-witted giggles have little to do with today's lesson?"

Elena couldn't resist the thinnest smile, masking it before it became too apparent.

"But…I was talking about the lesson Professor," the blonde tried to counter, opening her big blue eyes wide. She plastered the best innocent smile on her face.

_How utterly sickening_. A voice echoed. Deep and dark. Elena was the only one who heard it, but showed no outward sign of anything being amiss. _Do you not utterly crave to take a large book and simply beat her to death with it?_ Elena stifled a giggle of her own. _I imagine it would be as intimate as that creature has ever been to literature…_

Biting down on her bottom lip, Elena felt her face grow warm.

"Then perhaps you would care to enlighten me as to what topic I have been discussing with the rest of the class for the last twenty minutes!" Professor Crane crossed his arms, watching her with an intensity that would melt ice.

"Um…phobias?"

"Did you just answer my question or ask me one?" Crane's eyes narrowed.

"I…"

"-Brilliant Ms. Mercy. Not only did your powers of deduction come to the obvious conclusion of the main topic this month-long lesson illustrates, but you have been ever-so articulate in pointing it out!" Seeing that he had knocked the girl into silence, he smirked. "Next time, I suggest you concentrate more on your education then what tint of pink of paint your fingernails with."

The girl blanched, sitting back against her chair slowly.

"Now then…" Crane turned his eyes away, bored with putting the so-called young woman in her place. For a brief moment, they lingered on Elena, who noticed the tiniest hint of a smile pulling at his lips. Blinking, she lowered her head back to her work, blushing slightly.

She only looked up again when she heard the simultaneous groans of disgusts and gasps of shock. Looking towards Professor Crane's desk, she felt her stomach start doing flip-flops.

_How interesting…_the voice observed. Elena was forced to disagree, too busy lost in a feeling of disgust and fear. She wondered what it was about Professor Crane that always had him bringing…specimens, into class.

It was no spider that sat inside the small cage on the Professor's cage. Yet it was twice as ugly. It appeared to be an emaciated rat, as best as she could tell. A long, furry bode and snout. It looked as though it had been considerably starved, the ribs poking through its lower stomach. From her seat at the front of the class, she could see the very color of its beady eyes. A milky white. She wondered it somehow, the rat was blind. The eyes were sunk into its head.

At the moment, it was busy gnawing on the bars of the cage. Elena half-expected to start foaming at the mouth.

_Rats, spiders. Little, insignificant ugly things…_Elena took a deep, shaky breath. She felt her fear subside, feeling the empty place where it had been fill up with the echo of the voice. After a moment, any trace of her previous feelings had vanished completely, leaving her with the simple fact that she was staring at a mere rat.

Which didn't seem to be the case for a majority of the rest of the class. Most, mainly the female students, were looking at it in obvious fear. The rest seemed either disgusted or at the very least, a bit nervous.

"This…is Mr. Nibbles!" Professor Crane spoke casually, nothing the mixed looks of fear and revulsion on the faces of his students. "Mr. Nibbles is here to help illustrate a fraction of the feelings that zemmiphobia induced in the early 1300's." He walked over to the cage, opening the trapdoor on the top. "As those of you paying attention to the lesson..," he shot a spiteful glance at Amber Mercy, "…are familiar with, the 1300's are most commonly known for the effects of the Black Death, commonly referred to as "The Great Mortality". Professor Crane paused, reaching into the cage to withdraw the quivering creature. "I trust all of you did your homework and read your assigned chapters."

A murmur of agreement rippled quickly through the classroom.

"Then," Crane continued. "You wouldn't all mind answering a little oral pop-quiz, would you?"

The class turned silent, most staring at the rat in the Professor's hands. It was squirming almost violently. Its blindness causing it to become almost chaotic.

"Your lucky, it only consists of one question…" he smiled. "Why…were the people of the 1300's so terrified of wild rats?"

At that point, he lay the rat gently on a nearby desk, releasing it. The student sitting there shot backwards in his chair with a shocked scream as the panicked rodent scampered around on the dark wood. Eventually it turned to leap along the line of desks randomly, emitting shocking screeches at it went. Screaming ensued, and most of the students vacated their seats to run scrambling to different parts of the room.

Elena almost rose herself, then had a second thought and remained where she was. Eventually, with the rat leaping from desk-to-desk, she remained the only one sitting.

"Professor Crane?" She rat had landed on her desk, and was not standing on its hind legs. It faced her, those milky eyes regarding her with the sheer dumb sense of a wild animal. Its tiny nose twitched, sensing something amiss.

"Yes?" The Professor replied, walking closer until he was a few feet away. He looked down at her, staring intensely at the rat. The creature's odd behavior caught him off guard as it simply stood there, staring that empty stare, as if mesmerized by something he could not see. _Or perhaps it simply smells her fear, that sheer adrenaline terror…_ There was no way she was not afraid. Even those students far from the rat were regarding it with horror as it stood there, abnormally large. _She must be frozen with fear, how lovely._

"The rats…they spread the disease sir."

"Hm?" The statement caught him slightly off guard. Her voice was calm and steady. Not betraying an ounce of the fear he had assumed she was experiencing.

"The Bubonic type Professor, the rats carried it. The fleas, more appropriately. The rats were just hosts…and once they died, the fleas had to find other hosts…sometimes humans." She paused, regarding the rat staring at her. "The rats were so many, because of how dirty everything was back then. Almost all of them were diseased, so people were terrified of encounters with them. Of being bitten, or catching the disease some other way." She reached out slowly, running a finger down the creature's taunt, scrawny belly. "He looks kinda hungry…" she trailed off.

There was a moment of absolute silence. Professor Crane's face tightened slightly, and he realized he was holding his breath. He let it out evenly, not wanting to make it obvious. A tiny spark of anger lit up inside him as he watched the girl continue to scratch at the rat's stomach lightly.

"Don't do that, it might bite you…" he said softly, hoping it would trigger some sign of fear. Apprehension, at the least.

"Is it diseased?"

"No."

She shrugged, picking it up in her hands seconds later. Crane felt his usually controlled resolve slipping slowly, as he watched the terror in some of the other students slowly abate as well. One or two even walked up to Elena and scratched at the rat's head cautiously.

Eventually, everyone went back to their seats.

"I'll take that back Ms. Sutherland," Crane spoke coldly, snatching the rat back before Elena could object.

She shot him a surprised look, then seemed to surrender and go back to staring at her notebook. The rest of the class continued uneventfully.

* * *

"I didn't mean to upset you Professor."

Crane looked up from the essays he had been marking since the previous day. Elena looked back at him, brown eyes regarding him shyly.

He placed the pen down before answering her. "I was trying to make a point…I suppose I was hoping you would have a better reaction to it then you did…" he trailed off, the tone of his voice almost disappointed.

Elena cocked her head in confusion. "Better?" She echoed. "You sound like you think being afraid is a good thing…" she noticed his eyes narrow slightly, "-no offence…I'm just wondering, that's all."

Professor Crane took off his glasses, taking a moment to rub his eyes. It was strange, but Elena only then noticed the dark circles under them, so similar to her own. When he placed his glasses back on, she noted the exhausted look in his eyes. It was familiar, and she realized she had seen it countless times in a mirror. There was a fine line, she had always thought, between an exhausted body and an exhausted mind. She couldn't help wondering what it was that haunted him.

_You would know the signs of demons, wouldn't you child?_ It echoed once more, and Elena shivered, putting a hand lightly against her temple.

"Are you all right?" The concern was almost genuine. Professor Crane regarded her, noting the paleness of her skin. It was almost sickly, and he wondered if she went out much.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. Sorry, just a bit of a headache, s'all." She smiled, despite the fact that her head was slowly starting to thud. She had left her codeine at home as well. A bit foolish.

Professor Crane nodded. "Then I shall see you after tomorrow." He went back to grading the papers without so much as a nary glance.

* * *

It was only a shadow. To anyone looking, it would have appeared that way. It's presence was too brief, it's mass to liquid-like and fleeting. Like a flash of darkness in the dim light of dusk. It remained in the shadows around it, the light still to bright for its liking. When it took a moment to stand very still, a form could be made out in the wispy continence of it.

It might have been human. It certainly had a human-like husk. The indefinite shape of a body. A head. Tendrils of liquid-smoke curling upwards, resembling wind-blown hair. Long and spiraling everywhere. No particular direction. Pieces of it melted together here and there. There arms may have been, where legs, feet, could meet together. Then it would move simply be a flying _thing._ Just a black blanket caught on air, travelling the updraft, even though it was not particularly windy.

If it had stayed still long enough to be seen, one may have been able to spot a gaping maw in the shadow-thing. A ever-changing orifice with no solid build-up, but full of spiky ugly things that may have been teeth, but too sharp and uneven to be even remotely human. Once in a while, other patterns appeared on the part that could have been a face. Perhaps empty sockets where unseeing eyes dwelt. One, two, three. A second mouth, toothless.

It was ever-changing. A nightmare in the still-waking world, about to materialize fully in the darkness.

_Hungry._

Primitive thought. A single-minded _thing_.

_Hungry. Food_.

Someone was walking alone. A teenager, by the looks of it. Fifteen, perhaps sixteen. Not that it knew the difference. It was unlikely it even realized it was hunting a girl, or even a human. Food was food to it, all the same.

_Fear._

The slightest twinge of that familiar scent, wafting up to the Nightmare. Alluring and sickly sweet.

It flowed down, liquid again. Shadows collapsing a mere foot from where the girl walked, moving along the ground.

She stopped, turning around to watch it lift up from the ground below her, wrapping her in perpetual darkness. Drowning out her screams in its embrace when she finally realized something was _terribly_ wrong.

_So hungry…_

* * *

_Author's Note:_ Jeez, sometimes I think I get too long-winded when I write. What do you think!? oO I'm trying to take this slow and not rush into anything. Meh.


	4. Chapter Four

**Two To One**

**By:** E.R.M. Griffin

****

**CHAPTER 4**

* * *

The first thing that hit her when she finally managed to pry her eyes open was the nausea. Running for the bathroom, Elena managed to slam into a desk, stub her toe, and smash her forehead before relieving the contents of her stomach in the toilet.

"Ugh…fucking…" she felt another wave of sickness, deciding it was best to keep silent.

_Out late in the night?_

She bit her lip, tears stinging the corners of her eyes. She bit back a retort to the comment in favor of avoiding further nausea. Her eyes closed, she leaned her head against the cool porcelain, breathing slowly to quell the churning in her stomach.

When at last she managed to tear herself away from the pitiful scene and stumble back into the bedroom, it was only because of her mother calling from below. Glancing at the alarm clock on her dresser, Elena moaned, shutting her eyes tightly and sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Ten minutes…yeah right." She laughed bitterly. It was fairly obvious she was going to be late for class. Overcoming the sickness, she forced herself to quickly wash and get dressed, heading out to the car with the knowledge that not only was the day starting out on a pretty bad scale, but she was already twenty minutes late for class.

"Crane's class, just had to be Crane's class, didn't it?" She growled under her breath as she curled up in the back seat of the family van.

"Hey, you okay?" Her mother glanced at her in the rearview mirror while adjusting her seatbelt. "Your paler then usual baby, you sick?"

"Just a bit nauseous, s'all. Car-sick!"

"We haven't started moving yet El!" her mother replied wryly. "Try again!"

"Um…pre-car sickness?"

"Are you pregnant?"

"_Mom!"_

They continued on like this until Elena finally slipped out of the car, now parked in the public parking zone at Gotham U.

By then, Elena's malady had passed considerably, and she was able to make her way into the building without teetering too obviously. The hallways were deserted, and she was reminded of her first day here, only a short while ago. She mentally chided herself for being late, despite her promise to Professor Crane she wouldn't be. In reality, she disliked tardiness in others, but hated it in herself with a particular vengeance. She had always figured if someone was kind enough to count on you being somewhere, the least you could do what be on time.

She stood outside the door, debating wether she should knock on it, or simply turn around and skip the class all-together, rather then risk humiliation at being kicked out.

* * *

"Professor Crane, all we've done in this class is talk about fear."

"Yeah, come on Professor, this is supposed to be a Psychology course!"

Professor Crane had his back to the students, one hand raised to his forehead. Two fingers nimbly massaged his temple, avoiding the oncoming headache. He had been through minor versions of this discussion before, and had always been able to write it off for them on the excuse that fear was just a lengthened lesson over the course of the semester.

However, the months had worn on and the classes had not ceased to concentrate wholly on some fear concept or another. Frankly, he didn't see the problem with it. They were interested in matters of the psyche. When it came to that topic, fear was the dominant factor. Master that particular subject, and the rest was a simple spider web of victory.

Of course, none of _them_ understood that.

So little had changed, Crane had quickly realized. High school jocks and cheerleaders grew to college jocks and cheerleaders, if some even made it that far. The University was not so different. The majority of the students were there because mommy and daddy had provided for them. Nothing was earned anymore.

Someone else spoke up in protest, but Crane waved the comment away, then turned and walked towards the door, wanting to step out of the suddenly crowded room and get some breathing space.

* * *

Elena was just about to turn around and head back the way she had come when the door opened of its own accord, and she found herself staring blankly at her Psychology Professor. He regarded her with a sort of cold indifference in his eyes, before slowly closing the door behind him.

"Um…hi…" She smiled weakly, already feeling her face become red. "I'm sorry, I know I'm…"

"-late." He interrupted, shaking his head. "You have the most inconvenient timing Ms. Sutherland."

"I'm sorry…I just…I kind of had a bad night." She bit her lip, avoiding looking into his eyes as she spoke. "Nightmares."

This seemed to amuse him vaguely, and the tiny smirk that appeared on his lips only annoyed her.

"So there are some things that scare you after all," he commented.

She was frowning now. "I never said I was afraid, just that they were nightmares. It was an unpleasant night, that's all!"

_And a rather unpleasant morning, wouldn't you say child?_ The voice spoke for the second time that day, having chosen to remain silent after the little episode in the bathroom.

Elena winced even more at this.

"Are they the reason you are the way you are?"

The question caught Elena off guard, and she gazed at her Professor with a mixed look of confusion and apprehension.

"What do you mean sir?"

There was a moment of silence, as though Crane were debating wether or not to answer her question. In truth, he was. He imagined it was probably a touchy subject, and doubted she would simply spill her problems to anyone. Not that he was overly concerned, just rather interested to see if he was correct in his assumptions.

"The state you are in. You seem almost constantly exhausted, and the way you let some of the other students treat you…are your nightmares the cause of this? Has something happened to you to cause them, or is your abuse by your so-called peers what causes them in the first place?" He spoke simply, not hesitating.

When he had finished, Elena looked at him with a bewildered expression on her face. Her eyes had widened, and her mouth parted only slightly. Crane could see his bluntness had caught her off-guard.

"Wow…way to dig into my personal life," she murmured, though her tone was not necessarily hostile, so much as weary.

"Did I overstep my boundaries then? I'm concerned, that's all." He lowered his voice by an octave or two, though his face remained neutral. "You're a good student Elena, I can't help being a bit worried about you…".

For a moment, Elena remained silent, staring up at him with an even further amazed look on her face. "I dream of monsters," she expelled in a small sigh, so soft he barely caught it.

_Just one monster, my child. The monster that stares out through your eyes every day._ The Nightmare was alive in her head, speaking in its deep voice.

She didn't want to hear it right now, Elena startled. Right now, she wanted to keep looking into those same tired eyes that so resembled her own in their heaviness. She wanted to concentrate more on what he was saying, and the notion it was the closest anyone had ever been of even the faintest notion of what was wrong with her. That way, she could hold on to the illusion of security, even if for a moment.

_The monster is in you,_ The Nightmare continued on, _Your living nightmare, remember Elena? Not only that, but your only link to this world. Without me, you would not find yourself standing here today, would you? You would be back in that alley, still bloody, and so very still…_

Unconsciously, Elena pressed her hands together until they felt numb.

"Monsters…". Professor Crane echoed, arching an eyebrow. He wondered if she was being metaphorical. Substituting the abuse she was taking (and had no doubt taken in the past) by those same jocks and cheerleaders that he knew oh-so-well.

Elena suddenly felt a restlessness inside of her, and it took her a moment to realize it was not coming from her, but the Nightmare.

_There is something inside of him…_It spoke, and Elena felt the first tugs of the thing trying to gain control. This unnerved her, particularly since the events of the morning had weakened her considerably. Yet after a moment, it let go of the reigns, falling back to its black little space in her head. This, coupled with the nightmare's sudden interest in her psychology professor, heightened Elena's own interest in the older man.

It wasn't often that the nightmare took interest in anyone or anything. Particularly when left to its own devices, as it had done the previous night. More often these days, Elena was finding it far more difficult to keep control on a regular basis.

"Are you alright?" Professor Crane's voice brought Elena out of her reverie. He was looking at her with obvious concern, having noted the glassy look in her eyes.

"Yeah…just thinking."

"Oh?"

"Yeah…"

"Ms. Sutherland?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you care to take a walk?" 

They walked together over the campus grounds, during which Professor Crane explained in lesser detail the reason he had left the class mid-lesson.

"Well, you can't really blame them," Elena spoke casually, knowing from the look on his face that this was a touchy subject she didn't want to get on his bad side with. "Not all of them know how important something really is."

The hard look on Professor Crane's face softened considerably. "Do you think it important?"

_The most important thing in your life, isn't it?_ The nightmare intervened. Elena had felt its anxiety grow with each passing moment she had been walking with the professor.

"I tend to think about it a lot, I suppose. So yeah, I do think its important," she finally replied, having given her answer some thought. They walked on silently for a minute, before Elena paused and looked back. They had walked a considerably long distance from the building itself, now on the edge of campus. "So, I take it your skipping class Professor?" She grinned.

Crane couldn't resist smiling back. "I suppose I am. I have no patience for them today, I'm afraid."

"I guessed as much."

They began to walk back slowly, during which Professor Crane decided to bring up the subject he had touched upon previously.

"You mentioned you feared monsters." He spoke softly, watching her reaction. As suspected, she seemed to grow apprehensive once again. "It's strange. You don't seem as prone to fear as most of the other students, but for some reason, you seemed disturbed all the same. Is it because of the way the other students treat you?"

She glanced at him then, her eyes relaying some sadness or shame. Crane felt a momentary pang of pity, and felt his heart go out to the girl, despite his earlier efforts to alienate himself. He couldn't help but relate to her, his own history so filled with loneliness.

"My best friend was murdered," Elena replied, so softly that her voice was barely above a whisper. Crane fell silent, his eyes widening in surprise. "She was walking home from another friend's house that night. She was supposed to stay for a sleepover, but she had felt left out somehow, so she had decided to leave. She was like that a lot, you know. Kind of antisocial…," she winced, seeing the expression on his face. "God, I'm sorry. I don't even know why I'm telling you this, it isn't very proper."

Crane shook his head, laying a hand gently on her shoulder. His long fingers nearly brushing her cheek. "I can understand the pain of holding something like that inside. If you feel you can trust me, then please continue."

Elena smiled gently, then her smile melted away as she went on. "She never got home. She passed by an alley, where a man jumped her and dragged her in. She was raped, beaten, then strangled to death." She touched her hand gently to her throat as she spoke, her eyes filling with tears. Her fingers brushed Crane's as she did so, but Elena didn't seem to notice. She quickly brushed at her eyes before the tears could fall. "He left her there, just lying there like…like a piece of garbage," her voice quivered with hate. "Like she wansn't worth anything, and he was just a dirty rapist son of a bitch…" She caught Crane's eyes, smiling weakly. "Sorry, didn't mean to swear."

Crane waved away her apology. "Nothing to apologize about." They had arrived at the back entrance to the school, and hovered in front of the steps for a moment. "I suppose it must be difficult to find something tangible to fear after having something like that happen to someone you cared for."

"I guess…" she half-lied.

There was a beat of almost uncomfortable silence, which Professor Crane interrupted after glancing at his watch. "Class is over…" He sighed, looking back at her. Elena wasn't looking at him, staring down at the stairs instead. Her hand rested against the stone banister, unconsciously scratching at it gently. Her hair had fallen around her face, not as fuzzy as it had been the other day. The wind had flattened it slightly. He took a moment to study her. Her skin really was pale, suggesting both illness and probably many-a-restless nights. Regardless, she was vaguely pretty, in a strange way. Maybe it was her pain that made her seem intriguing.

Crane caught himself suddenly, shocked. He immediately looked away, timing it well as she finally looked back.

"Professor Crane?"

He sighed. "I'll see you next class Elena."

Moments later, she was left standing outside alone.


End file.
